Here is Part 2 of our look at the fast and furious, highly competitive and exciting Australian V8 Supercar series. Today, we take a good look at the race cars that compete Down Under.
We had the chance to spend a good part of the Australian Grand Prix weekend with Steve Hallam, TEKNO Autosports General Manager, and the other members of the team.
As I explained in the previous article, Hallam, an engineer, has a massive background in motorsport. He started in Formula 1 as Ayrton Senna’s race engineer before he was appointed McLaren's head of race operations, and then director of racing at Michael Waltrip Racing in NASCAR. “We at TEKNO are a relatively small team with only seven crew members in total. We are quite competitive as we clinched second place in last year’s series with our driver, Shane van Gisbergen,” Hallam told Auto123.com. Established in early 2011, the TEKNO Group is an Australian automotive family business led by Jonathon Webb. The team forged a close working partnership with industry-leading Triple 8 Race Engineering. “Our car is a Triple 8 car; the same the Red Bull Australia team runs, but with some modifications that we performed,” Hallam explained. “Everyone in the series uses the same type of tubular chassis, known as New Gen V8 Supercar. All chassis are dimensionally identical, but different accredited vehicle builders can construct them,” the Briton continued.
These new cars are lighter but safer, more economical, have increased agility, and are highly competitive. The V8 Supercar has a front engine and is a rear-wheel drive with a right-hand drive (we’re in Australia, don’t forget!) Five different models compete in the 2015 series: the Holden Commodore VF, the Ford Falcon FG, the Nissan Altima, the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, and the Volvo S60 Polestar. TEKNO runs a Holden Commodore VF. “The Supercars are designed to run solely on road courses. So, they are perfectly symmetrical. The minimum weight is 1,410kg with a driver onboard. The bodywork is made of panels of steel, plastic, and carbon fibre,” Hallam explained. “Certain components are spec while others are open. However, all Supercars must retain some parts of the road model such as the front grille, side mirrors, rear deck, and side vents,” he added.
The engine is a fuel-injected 5.0L V8, Holden 308 cast iron block, with CNC machined aluminium heads, control V8 supercar camshafts and dry sump. It produces an estimated 635 bhp and is run by a control MoTeC unit including M190 ECU. “We have full telemetry and data acquisition,” he said. “The number of engines used per season is not limited. We at TEKNO are using four. The engine is mated to a spec Albins ST6 6-speed sequential gearbox. Front suspension has double wishbones with adjustable dampers. At the rear we find a spec independent suspension with adjustable dampers with control pickup points and a control specification of uprights and wishbones,” Hallam told us.
AP Racing 6-piston calipers at the front and 4-piston calipers at the rear pinch ventilated discs. “Finally, we have control 18" x 11" forged aluminium wheels and low-profile Dunlop control tires. We have hard and soft compound for the dry, and a spec rain tire. There is also a minimum tire pressure of 18 psi,” Hallam explained. Officials for the Australian V8 Supercar series work hard at keeping a healthy balance between technology and costs. The end results are exciting, noisy, safe, and fast race cars with a surprisingly level playing field.
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |